Accra’s major markets are challenging recent government assurances that food prices are falling, with tomato sellers in particular insisting that thei
Accra’s major markets are challenging recent government assurances that food prices are falling, with tomato sellers in particular insisting that their daily experiences sharply contrast with official statistics.
Food and Agriculture Minister Eric Opoku has attributed the declining inflation rates and reported fall in food prices to bumper harvests and targeted agricultural policies.
Data from the Ghana Statistical Service backs his statement, showing food inflation dropping from 26 percent in March 2025 to 11 percent by September.
Overall inflation has also declined to 9 percent — the lowest in more than three years.
According to the Minister, these improvements stem from increased local production, especially of key crops such as maize, rice, onions, and tomatoes.
He stressed that government interventions had boosted harvests across several farming zones, thereby reducing market prices for consumers.
But traders across Accra say the figures do not reflect the true state of affairs on the ground.
Tomato sellers, in particular, have openly disputed the Minister’s optimism, describing the market situation as one of persistent price hikes.
“Tomatoes are currently very expensive, with a box going for about GH¢2,200. If there is really a glut of tomatoes in Kumasi as the Minister claims, we have not seen that here in Accra,” one aggrieved trader told Citi News.
Another seller lamented that price fluctuations were constant but rarely in favour of consumers.
“In the past two weeks, prices have gone up again. And to make matters worse, the boxes we buy from farmers have been reduced in size. Customers keep asking why prices are not falling, but we too are struggling,” she explained.
Suppliers also expressed doubts about the Minister’s assertion of surplus harvests, noting that if there were truly an oversupply in farming hubs like Kumasi, the products would have reached Accra by now.
Traders confirmed that much of the current tomato stock in the capital is transported from Ada and the Volta Region, not Kumasi.
The mixed responses from traders, however, highlight a broader issue.
While tomatoes remain expensive, other food commodities have indeed shown signs of price relief. For example, onion sellers report significant reductions.
A wholesaler revealed that prices of onions, which stood at GH¢3,200 a bag last year, now range between GH¢1,000 and GH¢1,800 due to strong local harvests.
Maize has also dropped from GH¢1,400 per bag to about GH¢900, a relief for households that depend on it as a staple.
Even imported rice prices have eased slightly, though traders attribute this to the recent strengthening of the cedi against the US dollar rather than agricultural output.
The sharp divergence between government statistics and traders’ testimonies reflects a longstanding challenge in the food economy: translating bumper harvests in farming communities into affordable produce in urban markets.
Transportation bottlenecks, middlemen pricing, and storage limitations often mean that market realities differ sharply from official projections.
Tomato sellers, therefore, continue to urge the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to pay closer attention to distribution challenges, rather than relying solely on national inflation data.
For many traders and consumers in Accra, the gap between government claims and market realities remains too wide to ignore.
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